Book of Notch: World War IV
Imported article from the . This war is a major development in the Book of Notch. It sets the stage for the Second War. World War IV, also known as the Arabian-Swedish World War, began in 1896 due to Notch's new, aggressive policy of centralization. Notch expanded Castilia so that it included Lorresburg and Wallenburg. He also expanded New Sweden so that it dominated nearly all of the province of Arabus. This action towards centralization led Lorresburg, Wallenburg, and Georgia to declare war on Castilia and New Sweden, and powers continued to declare war based on previous treaties and alliances until most of the world was at war. Prelude to War Before the war, five major powers (Castilia, Stevensburg, Lorresburg, Wallenburg, and the Atlantic Federation) dominated much of the world. Castila and Stevensburg were part of the Notchic Alliance (as well as New Sweden and the Village Union Territories), while Wallenburg, the Atlantic Federation, and Krussia formed the Triple Alliance. Lorresburg was originally suspicious of both alliances. Notch's New Policy Tension grew as Notch petitioned for greater lebensraum, or "living space," for the Indevian population in New Sweden. Castilia sympathized with New Sweden and negotiated with surrounding states in order to receive more territory (in order to compensate for territory that New Sweden annexed). Stevensburg obliged, but the states of Georgia, Wallenburg, and Lorresburg refused to comply. In 1895, Notch himself requested that the Arabian Confederation provide more lebensraum for the swelling Indevian population, but the Confederation refused to recognize this. It argued that Indevians were welcome in all Arabian states, and that they did not require an entire nation for themselves. Declaration of War In early 1896, Wallenburg and Krussia argued at the Confederate Assembly of 1896 that the state of New Sweden was unneccessary, and they petitioned for the Confederation to annex New Sweden as an international territory. Notch immediately declared a state of national emergency in New Sweden and proclaimed that Wallenburg and Krussia had declared war on New Sweden and, therefore, the Notchic Alliance as well. Armies quickly mobilized and neutral powers took sides for various reasons. Two belligerent alliances formed, as indicated in the table below. The Arabian Theater: 1896-1899 The most active theater of the Fourth World War, Arabia was the pivot around which military success revolved. Here, all Central Powers except for Collonade fought against the Rebel States, Georgia, Landcastra, and Krussia for dominance on the Northern Front, the Eastern Front, and the Gulf Front. The Northern Front Most land fighting took place on the Northern Front, where Castilia and New Sweden focused their elite forces against Lorresburg and Wallenburg. As Castilia had anticipated resistance in its expansionist campaigns, it managed to quickly mobilize on this front and take Lorresburg's Island Provinces (so called because they were surrounded by Castilian territories) and eastern Wallenburg. However, the well-trained army of Lorresburg soon pushed back against further invasion, soon establishing a more specific front, and the Lorresburg-Castilian front soon came to a standstill. Similarly, the push into Wallenburg soon halted when Krussia joined the Resistance Powers in the spring of 1897 and supplied incredibly large numbers of men and light weapons to the Wallenburg war effort. Many of these resources were spent in taking back East Wallenburg, recovering some land and establishing a second standstill front. The entire Northern Front had entered trench warfare. The Eastern Front Unlike the Northern Front, the Eastern Front was much more active. The combined efforts of Stevensburg and Castilia soon forced Georgia to surrender to overwhelming military power, much to the disappointment of the other Resistance Powers. The Central Powers found this new territory extremely useful due to its rich mineral mines and agricultural prowess. However, guerilla warfare, led by the Georgian general Arnold von Shwaldenhiemer, soon caused difficulties for the Central Powers in maintaining control over this land. Meanwhile, Landcastra swept through the Village Union Territories, a scene of popular uprising for nearly one hundred years, within hours. Despite national fervor, the people of the Village Union had no professional army and so surrendered without much bloodshed. However, guerilla warfare soon ensued, as Landcastra had experienced in previous occupation of this small nation. After taking Georgia, the Eastern Front moved north against Landcastra. In reality, there were two fronts against Landcastra: the Iresburg Front and the Georgian Front. Iresburg, north of Landcastra, had been at war with the Resistance Powers since the beginning of the war, but had been fighting a defensive war against the superior industrial and military might of Landcastra, counting on Castilian and Stevensburgian forces to capture Georgia and relieve Iresburg by establishing a second front against Landcastra. As described before, the Central Powers succeeded in taking Georgia and entered land combat with Landcastra in the summer of 1897. However, the increased threat of the Northern Front against Castilian interests led Castilia to redirect most of its eastern troops to the front in East Wallenburg. Therefore, only Stevensburg and Iresburg fought against mighty Landcastra and Iresburg slowly began to retreat against overwhelming Landcastrian forces. The Gulf Front This was the major scene of naval warfare in the Arabian theater. The Gulf Front opened when Krussia joined the Resistance Powers. As there were nations separating Krussia and its allies by land, Krussia relied on sea routes to deliver weapons, supplies, and men to the Northern Front. However, the state of New Sweden had built up a naval stronghold on its island protectorate of Harbor (redistributed from Castilia to New Sweden at the beginning of the war due to its large Indevian population), the massive island territory in the middle of the Arabian Gulf. The naval forces stationed here successfully wiped out over half of the transports shuttling between Krussia and Wallenburg, forcing Krussia and Wallenburg to establish a strong system of naval escorts for the sea routes. New Sweden scored tremendous victories early in the war, but it failed to replace its losses as escorts began to guard Wallenburg-Krussian transports. By the end of the year 1899, the navy of New Sweden was reduced to two-fifths of its original seapower in the Gulf. The Atlantic Theater: 1896-1899 When the Atlantic Federation joined the resistance powers, Castilia and Stevensburg utilized their Atlantic colonies in order to establish outposts for military action. Unlike in the Gulf, where New Sweden failed to replace its naval losses, Castilia and Stevensburg took this theater very seriously and devoted nearly all of their naval power and industry to establishing a permanent blockade between the Federation and Arabia. The Atlantic Federation held a competent navy, but devoted much of it to leading amphibious assaults on the island of Surratus, the main Central Power stronghold in the Atlantic theater. Therefore, around one third of all transports sent between Atlanta and Landcastra were either captured or sunk by Castilian or Stevensburgian warships, usually without incident. The Orentian Theater: 1897-1901 The Orentian theater opened upon Duchia's entrance into the war in 1897. Previously, the Orentian state of Collonade had provided Castilia with arms and ammunition via sea routes without incident. When Duchia joined the Resistance Powers, it effectively ended Collonian aid to the Arabian theater and forced Collonade to devote its attention to preventing invasion from the superior military force of Duchia. Although neither Duchia nor Collonade took enemy territories, they frequently skirmished at sea while both attempted to send supplies to the Arabian theater whenever possible. A Turn in Relations In the year 1899, Notch began to negotiate peace with Wallenburg, much to the anger of the Castilian government. The Central Powers had agreed at the beginning of the war not to make seperate peace negotiations. Despite Central Power resentment, however, Notch continued negotiations. In the late autumn of 1899, the Castilian Intelligence Service intercepted a secret message between the Georgian puppet government (instituted in 1897 by Stevensburg in order to build a façade of Georgian independence) and Notch, in which Notch offered to invade and liberate Georgia from Stevensburgian occupation via the island of Harbor. The Castilian government exploded into fury and immediately cut off all support to New Sweden, officially proclaiming neutrality to New Sweden, although it remained in the war. When Castilia sent the intercepted message to Stevensburg, Emperor Steven immediately leniently declared neutrality towards his father's nation as Castilia had done, rather than declaring war. However, the Castilian Intelligence Service intercepted yet another secret message several days later: a summary of Wallenburg government plans to ally with New Sweden and declare war on Lorresburg. Castilia and Stevensburg immediately declared war on New Sweden and then released the intercepted message to the Arabian Confederation, where it caused allegiancies to shatter across the world. Alliances and hostilities shifted within minutes, ending in the configuration shown in the chart below. Krussia and the Atlantic Federation declared neutrality for various reasons. Collonade and Duchia remained at war, but only due to political issues between those two nations rather than political relations on a world scale. The Arabian Theater: 1899-1901 The Swedish Front Upon declaring war on Castilia, New Sweden took initiative and invaded nearby Castilian provinces, but Notch soon saw that he could not defeat the Allies. The combined might of Castilia and Stevensburg reclaimed all invaded territories within days and mounted forces along the Swedish border, reluctant to invade, thus taking Indevian lives. In the summer of 1900, Castilia finally invaded New Sweden and, despite incredible nationalist fervor among Swedish citizens, Allied troops marched into Arabus on 23 August 1900. New Sweden surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Powers the next morning. The Wallenburgian Front Wallenburg similarly found itself in an impossible situation, fighting a giant front against Castilia and Lorresburg. East Wallenburg soon revolted against the Wallenburg government and revolutionaries declared a republic. They welcomed Castilian troops warmly and provided yet another base of operations for the Allied Powers. However, the Wallenburg dictatorship refused to surrender to the Allies, and war waged on for months as strongholds of Wallenburg resistance fell one by one. On 14 September 1900, the Swedish navy in the Arabian Gulf, which New Sweden failed to use against the Allies, was directed by the Castilian government to conduct a massive amphibious assault on Wallenburg. Transports landed on the Wallenburgian shore on 18 September and accelerated the victory against Wallenburg. Dictator Karl Jorgenshen fled his capital on 23 September, and Allied troops took the city the next day, effectively defeating Wallenburg. The Eastern Front Landcastra, however, proved extremely successful against the Allies, and had taken most of Iresburg by the end of 1900. Iresburg, with a new capital in the Duchy of Jeb, surrendered to Landcastra on 29 December 1900 and immediately began negotiations upon the beginning of 1901, much to the disappointment of Allied nations. With Iresburg defeated and the Allied Gulf Navy occupied with Wallenburg, Landcastra faced an easy one-front war. It quickly broke through the stagnant front in Georgia and liberated its government. With these new resources and nationalism running high in Georgia, the remaining Resistance/Conspiracy Powers fought strongly against East Wallenburg, Castilia, and Stevensburg. However, the Allied Powers, strengthened due to a lack of opposition anywhere but on the Eastern Front, established a solid barrier against Landcastra and Georgia, and trench warfare resumed about 5 to 10 miles within the Allied borders. After several months of bitter trench defense and futile attempts to storm enemy lines, the war-weary combatants began negotiations, ending the war on 14 April 1901. Peace Restored The negotiations between the belligerent states culminated in the Peace of Stevensburg, which settled nearly all political and territorial issues on paper. Among its provisions, it called for New Sweden and Wallenburg to pay reparations, for the new sovereignty of East Wallenburg and the recognition of the Village Union Territories' sovereignty. Also, this treaty established the Arabian Confederation as the supreme sovereignty over New Sweden. Effects of the War The war mainly established a worldwide suspicion of Indevians, specifically Notch, Jeb, Dinnerbone, Steven, and other major figures. This suspicion was hightened when the Arabian Confederation decided to acquit Notch of his blatant war crimes, arguing that "His loyalty to the human cause in the ancient times onward has proved to outweigh his poor decisions of recent years." The war also resulted in a strengthening of the Arabian Confederation, which became, for all intents and purposes, one state, one superpower. For centuries, the Arabian Confederation was divided into nations, political camps, and even enemy belligerents, but now the entire continent was unified in one cause: to better human living and to maintain order across the earth. With the Confederation's newfound, central power, symbolized in its new international territory of New Sweden, it began a policy of policing other nations, causing further resentment for the continent on which most Indevians lived. This resentment of both Indevians and Arabia allowed Herobrine to rally the masses against Arabus and take over the world in the Second War. This page and its content were written and conceived by NPCArchsenatorGarmany. Category:Sad's Creation Category:Stories Category:The Minecraftia Historica Category:Imported articles Category:Books of Notch